The Lost Code

Food Processing Industry

Women Working in a Cannery

Filling jam jars at Old City, n.d.
Thérèse Lachance Collection

Machine Once Belonging to Biscuits T. Gignac Ltée Used by Biscuits Dion Until 1946

Picture taken from Une page d'histoire de Québec, magnifique essor industriel, Société historique nationale, 1955

Cookie Mold

20th century
Copper, steel
L. 130 cm
Di. 27 & 12 cm
Industrial cookie molds were used to make tea biscuits and maple-leaf cookies.
Musée L'Aventure Leclerc Collection

Breweries, canneries, sugar refineries, flour mills, dairies, and distilleries prospered at the turn of the century. In 1900 the Ogilvie Mills flour mill in Montréal was the largest in the world. In 1911 the Montréal-based St. Lawrence Sugar Company produced about one-fourth of all Canadian sugar. Between 1901 and 1941 Québec butter production rose from 11,193 tons to 34,666 tons.

The same went for cookie factories. After the English cookie maker Jonathan Dogdson Carr converted a printing press into a machine to cut cookie dough, the industry took flight and the sheet production method was adopted by all factories, including those in Québec. Alongside Ontario cookie makers Christie and Stuart, which had offices in Montréal, French Canadian businesses such as Viau, Vachon, Vaillancourt, and Leclerc expanded quickly.